It's November 2023.
Emergency services rushed to a primary school
where three children have just been stabbed.
The news spreads that the suspect is a homeless Algerian immigrant
and people start gathering at the scene.
But as the evening fell, it turned grim.
This is an unusual sight for Ireland.
The images of looting and arson attacks
show just a fraction of a much larger
public pushback against near record numbers of migrants
arriving at Ireland shores.
But until recently, this kind of anti-immigration rhetoric was taboo.
The Irish themselves have fled hardship and hunger,
and they emigrated around a world.
This history is an important part of their national consciousness,
and it explains in part,
what you have typically had relative positive views on migration,
but that is changing.
What caused this dramatic pivot in Ireland
and what are the underlying problems?
This is Ireland's migration crisis...
with Hindsight.
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Ireland is a small country of only 5 million people,
but anywhere around 50 to 80 million people in the world
have full or partial Irish heritage.
In the United States,
36 million Americans claim
Irish as their primary ethnicity,
which constitutes 11% of the entire population.
Famous Irish Americans include Henry Ford,
Kurt Cobain, and John F Kennedy,
but in Canada,
this percentage is even higher,
with 14% of the population having Irish ancestry.
And Australia tops it off
with 30% of their population,
or 7 million people being of Irish descent.
The Irish diaspora is the reason
why Gaelic games
are played around the world,
and why the Chicago River turns green every March.
In the mid 1800s,
the Irish population was much larger
and peaked at 8.5 million people,=
but a disaster was about to happen.
A type of fungus was causing potato crops to fail across Europe
and in Ireland this led to an unparalleled food crisis.
It lasted four years
and drove Ireland into a nightmare of hunger and disease.
1 million people died of starvation
and another 1 million left the country
By 1900, the Irish population had nearly halved
to 4.4 million people,
and by this time 40% of all Irish born people
were living abroad.
Ireland didn't industrialize as fast
as other Western European countries,
and in the first decades of the 20th century,
they were still largely an agrarian society.
Between 1949 and 1956, their real national income rose
by only 8%, whereas the average European increase was 40%.
The Irish population now counted only 3 million people,
and nearly half a million of them
left the country to find work abroad
But this was about to change.
This image of Ireland as a relatively undeveloped
country stands in sharp contrast
with the image you might have of Ireland today.
In the 1990s, a period of economic boom started.
Just look at this chart.
This is the GDP of the UK and this is that of Ireland.
Until 1990. That's when a shift occurred.
Ireland began growing rapidly and by 2018 they had a GDP per capita
of over $60,000, much higher than the UK's $38,000.
They transformed from a relatively poor country
by Western European standards into one of the world's richest.
Ireland's quality of life drastically increased,
and in 2005
they ranked number one
in the Economist Quality of Life Index,
above Switzerland and Norway.
This impressive economic growth was mostly fueled
by direct foreign investment.
Dublin City Center
now boasts gleaming new office towers
and marquee tech giants like Google and Apple have established
massive European headquarters in Ireland.
But statistics can be deceiving.
A publication from the IMF this year placed Ireland
as the country with the second highest GDP per capita in the world,
only behind Luxembourg, with well over $100,000.
But their average income in reality is closer to 48,000.
So Ireland's prosperity is not as rosy
as these statistics make it out to be.
But they were now one of Europe's most prosperous nations,
and this led to a historic reversal
For centuries,
Ireland had more people moving out of their country
than that there were coming in,
but their is economic growth and their welcoming attitude
made them a popular destination.
On this graph,
you can see that the number of new arrivals
grew steadily and even continued
after the markets crashed in 2008.
In this period,
the number of foreign born nationals
increased from 10 to 20%,
and many Irish had a positive opinion
of this development.
In polls,
it shows that most people viewed immigration
as an important factor for economic progress.
In 2015, at the height of the European migrant crisis,
a poll of 12 European nations
showed that 88% of people showed a degree of sympathy
towards Syrian refugees arriving in Ireland.
This was the highest figure of all countries that participated.
Most people agreed with the government spending
to help these refugees.
And two thirds of the population wasn't concerned
that these refugees were putting extra pressure on public services
like education, health and housing.
But in 2022 and 2023,
the number of new arrivals became the highest in years.
Last year, 140,000 immigrants arrived.
Of which 42,000 came from Ukraine.
Since Russia's invasion
a total of 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Ireland,
which is amongst the highest per capita in the EU.
It had long been a taboo
to speak negatively about these immigrants,
but the arrival of large numbers of Ukrainians in 2022
caused this to change.
That year, only 4% of people felt that immigration was a concern.
But one year later,
that number had risen to 29%,
making it the largest issue amongst voters,
followed by housing and health care.
And it's important to understand that all these issues are connected.
There's a massive shortage of housing.
They need a quarter of a million more homes,
and homelessness is at a record high.
For many people,
it has become impossible
to buy a house or to even find affordable rental property.
On top of this, Ireland is amongst
the most expensive countries in the EU
with a household expenditure that's 46% higher
than the EU average.
Other services, most notably hospitals,
are also already under strain.
Many doctors have long waiting lists
and nearly 3% of Irish people have unmet medical needs.
Small towns are overwhelmed
by migrants, adding to a feeling of insecurity.
In Dublin,
tent cities have sprung across the city
due to a lack of available
accommodation, and people
are now taking to the streets
to demand action from their representatives.
Much of this public pushback was civilized and peaceful,
but some people chose another way.
In November 2018, a hotel was set on fire.
It was earmarked to house
100 asylum seekers,
and since then 27 fires were set at properties across Ireland.
There were rumored to house refugees.
Most of those happened after November 2023.
In Dublin alone, there were nine reported incidents of arson
since early 2023.
But the event that captured the world's attention
happened late last year.
These were the worst riots in Dublin's history.
It's also important to note that this is in extremity.
Most protests are civilized and peaceful,
but also passionate and emotional
and let them know we're standing together.
Immigration is likely
to play a significant role in the national elections
that are held in the first months of 2025.
And this has never happened before in Irish history.
The Irish government has failed to address
some of the root causes of these tensions,
like the shortage of housing and the rise of living expenses.
And they are now facing the uncomfortable truth
that their acceptance of migrant communities,
which is so deeply rooted in their national identity,
has limits.
But migrants are also necessary.
This graph shows the talent shortages in Ireland from 2010 to 2023,
and you can see that
last year, 81% of employers had difficulty finding skilled talent.
In the Irish healthcare system.
43% of physicians are trained in foreign countries.
Most are from Pakistan, Sudan and the United Kingdom.
These industries are in desperate need of more educated staff,
which is not always locally available.
And the Irish youth is still disproportionately
thinking about leaving the country.
Of the age
group, 18 to 24, as much as 70% is thinking about emigrating.
And most of them have a higher education.
But Ireland is waking up,
and they're also seeing countries like Sweden,
which have long served as an ideological model for Irish politicians
are facing a much more violent backlash of uncontrolled migration.
And I made a separate video about this.
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